Simple Cooking for all - nothing fancy, just good, honest food with no additives or preservatives!

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Tajin

A bit of a departure from the standard fayre presented previously, this is a dish primarily of my own concoction, with a Moroccan influence (hence the name). It's a single pot dish - requiring only the most basic of utensils. It's spicy, but mild, and contains your entire daily intake of vegetables - a good way to get them into a picky family!

It's also highly adaptable - as long as your base ingredients are there, you can use pretty much whatever meat you like, chicken, pork, beef, camel - whatever you like really, simply use my recipe as a 'serving suggestion' and see what your personal preference would be.

You will need the following ingredients:

1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 large white onion (one and a half ideally)
2 cloves crushed Garlic
1 Large Courgette or Two small ones
Small Tin Chick Peas
3 Fresh Tomato's
Yellow, Orange or Red Bell Pepper (i prefer orange if i can get it)
6 Pack of Merguez Sausages (i work on the basis of two sausages for every person)
1 large Chorizo Sausage (or any spiced dry cured beef sausage)
1 carton of Passata OR Tin of Chopped Tomato's
Paprika
Hot chilli grinder (optional)

Utensils needed:

Large Saucepan w/Lid
Wooden Spoon
Chopping Board
Sharp Knife

Chop up your onions reasonably small, but not too fine, add to a saucepan with a LID, with the crushed garlic and a pinch of coarse sea salt. Sweat the onions til they're soft, on a medium-low heat. While they're sweating, chop up the courgettes however you prefer and add them to the onions, stir just to mix things through a little. Chop up the bell peppers & the tomato's, again, however you prefer, add those, leave the lid ON! After about 10 minutes, add about a tablespoon of paprika, and stir through, there should be enough water in the dish to stop anything from sticking.

Add the merguez sausages at this stage, chop into bitesize chunks, stir in. Take the skin off the chorizo (make a cut in the top, use your fingernails to grab the skin, peel off - easy). Chop into small chunks as well, throw that in. After 10 minutes, you want to add EITHER 1 cup of passata (3/4 of a half carton) or a whole tin of chopped tomato's. I use a hot chilli grinder (like a peppermill, with chilli's in) at this stage, and stir in. Leave the lid on to slowly cook through for about 20 minutes.